Huawei received approval on Thursday to build a $1.25 billion research facility in the United Kingdom. The announcement comes as the United Kingdom is scrutinizing the Chinese telecom company’s involvement in the country’s 5G networks.
The nine-acre facility in Cambridge will become the international headquarters of Huawei’s fiber optic communication business and create around 400 jobs, Huawei said in a press release.
The investment comes at a sensitive time for the company. The United Kingdom is undertaking a new security review of the company, just four months after Prime Minister Boris Johnson shrugged off US objections and granted Huawei a limited role in building out the UK’s next generation of super-fast interconnected 5G wireless networks.